Court Condemns Igbo Custom On Paternity of Children Over Bride Price

• An Akure Magistrate Court has dissolved a 23-year-old marriage between Prophet Theophilus Obayan, a Yoruba and Prophetess Chibuzor Lilian, an Igbo woman from Abia state.
• The court condemned the Igbo custom which denied a father access to his children over non-payment of bride price
• Magistrate Segun Stephen Rotiba, in his ruling, described the Igbo tradition as barbaric, evil and ungodly

Akure, Ondo state - An Akure Magistrate Court has condemned the Igbo custom which denied a man the paternity right to his children over non-payment of bride price.

Magistrate Segun Stephen Rotiba declared the custom as barbaric, evil and ungodly for punishing one person when two consenting adults are involved in the act, The Nation reported.

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The judge stated this while giving his verdict in the case between Prophet Theophilus Obayan, a Yoruba and his estranged wife, Prophetess Chibuzor Lilian, an Igbo woman from Abia state.

Obayan dragged his estranged wife to court after she married one of his spiritual sons, Abua Obi, and changed his children’s surname to Obi.

He also asked the court to dissolve the 23-year-old marriage and sought the return of the paternity of the children as well as grant him custody of the children.

Magistrate Rotiba granted Obayan's prayer by dissolving the marriage and his wish to reclaim his four children.

In his ruling, the judge said:

“In the same breathe, I find the Ibo custom exuded by the respondent and her witnesses that the children of the union can bear Mr Abua Obi as their surname, atavistic, barbaric, evil, ungodly, irrational, unsensational, crass, gross, crude, unwary, provocative, ungodly, discriminatory and insensible.

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He added that: “I condemn this custom in the strongest terms.

Prophet narrates how church member snatched his wife

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the founder of Divine Prophetic Solutions Prayers Ministry, Prophet Obayan, cried out for help after a married church worker in his ministry snatched and married his wife.

The man of God had sued his estranged wife for the dissolution of his 23-year-old marriage and to reclaim the paternity of his four children.

Nigerian pastor secretly conducts DNA test on his 3 children

A Nigerian pastor revealed how he has lived with a painful secret for the past eight years.

He claimed that none of his three children belonged to him he discovered the truth after secretly conducting DNA tests.

The pastor recounted that he was involved in a car accident which left him unable to have children.

Source: Legit.ng